Chavnobyl: Hugo Chavez's Chernobyl

As world attention diverts to other important stories - elections, Hurricane Isaac, Iran - a massive disaster is occurring just 1400 miles south of Miami, in Venezuela, under Hugo Chavez. Over the weekend, a massive refinery explosion occurred at the world's second-biggest refinery. It hit three storage tanks and as of today, the fires are still burning. Forty-eight people were killed and 500 houses were leveled. Foam was not available to fight the flames and the ambulances had all been shipped to Bolivia, This will not only have consequences for world oil prices - Venezuela may have to import from the U.S. to meet its obligations, for one. It may also have consequences for Hugo Chavez's reelection effort, where election day on October 7 is six weeks away. The reason? The fact that every aspect of this disaster has socialism written all over it. Investor's Business Daily has a pretty comprehensive report of all the things that went wrong. No wonder Venezuelans are calling it Chavnobyl, Hugo Chavez's Chernobyl.

As world attention diverts to other important stories - elections, Hurricane Isaac, Iran - a massive disaster is occurring just 1400 miles south of Miami, in Venezuela, under Hugo Chavez. Over the weekend, a massive refinery explosion occurred at the world's second-biggest refinery. It hit three storage tanks and as of today, the fires are still burning. Forty-eight people were killed and 500 houses were leveled. Foam was not available to fight the flames and the ambulances had all been shipped to Bolivia, This will not only have consequences for world oil prices - Venezuela may have to import from the U.S. to meet its obligations, for one. It may also have consequences for Hugo Chavez's reelection effort, where election day on October 7 is six weeks away. The reason? The fact that every aspect of this disaster has socialism written all over it. Investor's Business Daily has a pretty comprehensive report of all the things that went wrong. No wonder Venezuelans are calling it Chavnobyl, Hugo Chavez's Chernobyl.